27 December, 2009

I painted this army in 2006 or 2007. All of the figures are 15mm from the Feudal Castings Scottish range, with the exception of the mounted general and his escort, which are from the Essex Dark Ages range. This was my first experience with FC figures and I found them very easy to paint.

There are 2 sub-lists to the DBA army list, with the only difference being the choice for the general's element, cavalry or warband in the earlier period vs. cavlary or knights in the later period.

Wow, what a long time between posts. Well, I have been painting, I just am not the best photographer and I find it hard to find time to set up and take photos of an entire army at once.

Anyway, this post is an update on one of my current projects and also a figure review. I have had an Avar army since the days of WRG 7th edition, originally painted around 1991 or 2. It has always been one of my favorites. I have slowly updated it over the last few years and recently decided to add 2 new command stands. So I purchased a pack of Khurasan Miniatures Avar Command, which contains 2 generals and 2 standardbearers. The riders have nice poses but the sculpting is only average and not quite as detailed as the Essex Avars, and are roughly the same size. This isn't the clearest photo, but you can see the size comparison (l-r: Essex Khazar, KM standardbearer, KM general, Essex Avar):Before I go any further, I should note that each of KM's ranges are done by different sculptors (listed on the KM website). The other KM figures I own and have seen are very well done. However their Avar horses are on steroids! Essex horses are not exactly underfed, but the KM horses make them look like ponies (l-r: KM, Essex, KM, Essex):The riders look way out of scale when mounted. My solution was to mount the KM riders on some spare Essex horses I had. They are currently being painted and when they are done the whole army will appear on the blog.

24 July, 2009

This is one of my newest armies. I painted the entire army during a week in March while my family was out of town. I already have several of their historical opponents so they fill a hole in my collection.Most of the figures are Old Glory. Two of the hastati stands and one of princeps are Essex, while the camp is by Baeuda. I have 3 more stands worth of unpainted OG triarii I will paint someday so that I can also use this as a Camillan Roman army.

The camp consists of 2 pigs being set alight and aimed at the enemy. There is a story from Megara in Greece about flaming pigs being used to frighten enemy elephants, while the Romans used squealing pigs against Pyrhhus' elephants.

I am back after a long break between posts. I have been working on several projects recently, including Vikings. My Vikings have a long history. I first painted them circa 1991-3 for use with the DBM rules as an allied contingent for a West Frankish army. I had 13 stands of heavy infantry and 4 of bowmen. Recently while looking at the DBA army lists I realized that by painting 18 foot and 3 mounted and doing some rebasing, I would have enough stands for all 4 of the DBA Viking sub-lists, which cover Vikings and Leidang from 790-1280 AD. At Cold Wars in March I purchased 1 pack of Essex huscarls, 1 of bondi and 1 of mounted huscarls from Wargames. As a bonus, Essex has redesigned their figures since the 90s and the poses are all different now. I also dug out 2 archers and a mounted general from my stock and set to. It was fun to try and match my painting style from back then; some things I do the same and some differently. I also took the opportunity to fix a few broken spears, chips, etc.

Now I am the proud owner of a Viking horde: 11x4Bd (including general), 9x3Bd (1 stand of berserkers doubles as a 3Wb), 3x3Bw, 1x2Ps and 1x3Kn (general). They are all Essex figures except for 2 of the archers which are Feudal Castings. The 1x7Hd and 1x4Sp in the Leidang lists can be borrowed from one of my other armies. They should make good opponents for my Pre-feudal Scots who will be featured in an upcoming post. To top it all off I bought a lovely Viking longship from Neldoreth to use as a camp.

04 May, 2009

My friend Mike keeps asking me to post a picture of the almughavars that I have been painting. Below are some shots of 4 of them fully painted, but not based yet. They are from the new 15mm Eureka line of almughavars; there are 16 different poses of line troops, plus an officer. standardbearer and hornblower. I am using them to build a Catalan Company army for DBA. A full army pictorial will follow when the rest of the army is done.

Today's post features my newest army, Early Hungarians. The army list is: III/67bb (1103-1245), 1x3Kn Gen, 1x3Kn, 1x3Cv, 3x2Lh, 3x4Sp, 2x3Ax or 3Bw, 1x2Ps. I painted them on and off during 2008, finishing the knights and basing the army in Spring 2009. They had their debut at Cold Wars 2009 in the Midnight Madness tournament, going 1-1.

I built the army to depict the reign of King Andrew II (1205-1235). I wanted it to be contemporary with my Medieval German and Teutonic Order armies. Andrew II actually invited the Teutonic Order to Hungary during his reign, only to forcefully expel them in 1225. The army could also be used for the reign of Andrew's successor, Bela IV, who fought the Mongols.

I used a mix of figures from different manufacturers and will comment on them in the notes to each picture.

Below is King Andrew II of Hungary and his escort. The king bears the royal arms of Hungary. The goat's head on the left-hand knight was taken from a list of medieval Hungarian emblems. Hungarian heraldry used a lot of stripes, and I used them throughout the army. The king and knight on the right are Gladiator/Black Hat, the other knight is Tabletop.

Next is a side view of the general's element so you can see the flag.
Next up are more shock mounted. The element on the left is Hungarian knights (1x3Kn). Their shields bear a crescent, more stripes and a bull's head. The left figure is Tabletop, the other two are Black Hat/Gladiator. The element on the right is Croatian heavy cavalry (1x3Cv); the right cavalryman is Essex, the other two are Old Glory. A side-shot of of the mounted.
The light horse make this army different from most medieval European armies. The center and right-hand elements are Magyar horse archers. The element on the left is Cuman light horse. The Cumans were used as mercenaries by the Hungarian monarchs. All of these figures are from Gladiator/Black Hat.

Next are the Hungarian spearmen (3x4Sp). These are a mix of Gladiator/Black Hat, Essex and tabletop figures. The shields are painted with typical Hungarian designs, including lots of stripes.Here is a close-up of the spearmen from the side.
Next are the Croatian foot (2x3Ax). These are Thistle & Rose figures, sadly no longer available. They are part of a huge Croatian army I painted in the early 1990s. King Coloman I of Hungary became ruler of Croatia in 1103 and many Croatians served in the Hungarian army. I am particularly fond of these troops as my family is Croatian.

The rest of the Croatian foot in the army are archers (2x3Bw and 1x2Ps). These are also

Thistle & Rose figures, except for one Old Glory figure (middle figure on left element) and one Gladiator/Black Hat figure (right figure on middle element).

This post features an Italian Condotta DBA army. The DBA list is: IV/61 (1320-1495), 1x3Kn (Gen), 4x3Kn, 1x2Lh, 2x8Cb or 2Ps, 2x4SP or 4Pk, 1x4Cb or 4Ax or 4Bd or 2Lh, 1x2Ps or Art. The majority of the figures are from Mirliton with a few exceptions: One stand of Psiloi are Essex, the Light Horse are from Museum and some of the Knights are from Essex. I enjoyed painting the Mirliton figures, they have excellent detail and I look forward to painting more someday.

I painted this army in 2005 or 2006. It is painted as a Florentine army of the early to middle 15th century. I chose Florence because my wife had a great time in Florence on our honeymoon. Despite liking the army, somehow I have never used them in a game; I hope to change that soon.First up is the full army shot.Next is a close-up of the general (1x4Kn Gen). The red fleur-de-lys on a white field was the Florentine coat-of-arms. Here is a side-shot to show the Florentine coat-of-arms.Next are the Knights (4x4Kn). It is fast to paint knights without shields or heraldry! The Light Horse (1x2Lh) are mounted crossbowmen.Below are the pikemen, I really like these figures (2x4Pk or 2x4Sp).

Next are the Crossbow elements (2x8Bw). These are my favorite elements in the army. I normally don't care for 8Bw, but the visual of the crossbowmen behind a line of spearmen with pavises is fantastic. I often take a lot of time to paint heraldry, but this army was a pleasant surprise. I painted all of the shields in one pass, one after another, with no mistakes. This is the only time that has ever happened to me!

Below is a side shot so you can see how the spears project out from the pavises.Here are an element of regular crossbwmen (1x4Bw) and a bombard (1xArt).These are the optional infantry (1x4Ax and 1x3Bd).

Next are the handgunners (2x2Ps). The front element are Mirliton figures and the back element are Essex.

Last but not least is the camp, a section of Florence's city wall. It is a JR miniatures piece mounted on plastic.